Lance Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I guess no matter what anyone else says, DanielRay has a better solution right? We are all idiots and know nothing. I have one better....I am an idiot for continuing this post! If DCI needed re-organization just call them or leave your card. Then again, maybe they don't want your help. Take the hint! why this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I guess no matter what anyone else says, DanielRay has a better solution right? We are all idiots and know nothing. I have one better....I am an idiot for continuing this post! If DCI needed re-organization just call them or leave your card. Then again, maybe they don't want your help. Take the hint! "Pee in cornflakes" syndrome. Quite hard to understand the rationale, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 They have received appropriate attention. It started a discussion (outside of this forum, as I intended). glad to hear it. your ideas would take dci in a direction i don't happen to care for, but I seriously don't understand the mentality of the shrieking chorus on here who are so intent on making this personal against you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) "Sound Crazy...Might Work" This notion that DCI is there to return as much tour income as possible to the corps, IMO, is mis-guided. Each corps should stand on its own feet and not be seduced, or made dependent upon, the largese (or success) of DCI. Imagine... Every corps is profitable in its own right (however they best decide to accomplish that). As a result DCI is not required to send back to the corps the roughly 20% of their budget and, instead, can use that money to get drum corps back on TV. More exposure, more fans, more reason to negotiate a better contract with DCI to allow "My Corps" to participate in DCI's tour next year. Too many corps make or break their season on ticket sales when the elasticity of that revenue stream is too dependent upon thngs the corps can't control. Like the weather, the economy, or the whims of another G7. Edited October 24, 2011 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 To be certain, the most-recent 990 information is not available so we only have DCI's announcements on which to base it's recent changes. Perhaps we'll see dramatic increases across the board. But you can't shake the background notion that DCI is "just surviving". On big, broad trends it vacillates between slightly successful and not. The big "reserve" balance of a few years ago is gone from the 990s, the money used up to supplement for a "bad year" or two. This is not the model that will allow DCI to become the loudspeaker of promotion of the pinnacle of the marching arts. That organization has to be stronger in the marketplace and developing that position takes assets and financial resources that DCI can scarcely do without. Everyone talks about getting DCI back in the media but it takes a big chunk of change. Immediately many start thinking about a rich benefactor who might pay the bill, instead of DCI developing a line of business that would support such costs. The model of paying out ever more funds to the corps leaves nothing for the organization to use to promote it in the current medium. What? Last I heard, 2011 was the greatest year ever for drum corps....standing-room-only crowds everywhere, entertainment heralded, and money pouring into the coffers of DCI and their corps. Did the sky fall while I wasn't looking? I'm really not seeing why there's such negativism towards thinking outside the box. Leaving DCI to do the same things again, year after year, and expecting different results is mind-boggling to me. Leaving DCI to pursue their 5-year business plan would have been fine with me. You know, the plan they all agreed to....just before the G7 episode. In reality, I hold no negativism toward out-of-the-box ideas to help drum corps. Sticking to those three underlined words, however, is something I am concerned about. Two thoughts on that: 1. We've already had enough Trojan-horse proposals to "restructure" DCI to the benefit of a few. From now on, any such organizational shell-game proposals are going to raise a red flag with me....and if no one can explain why restructuring DCI is essential to their overall plans, that pretty much settles it. I don't believe in the philosophy of "pass the bill to find out what's in it". Convince me it's a good idea before we try it. 2. Making money from sources external to the activity may be just fine - by all means, let's put those ideas on the table. But there is a drawback to that approach. I've seen it happen to quite a few corps over the years....discovering how to make money outside the activity soon leads their org out of the activity. Star of Indiana isn't the only such case....a number of other former corps have simply decided to spend the proceeds of their fundraising on cheaper ventures like winter guards or parade corps. Some corps that couldn't keep up financially have left funding in place to provide scholarships to corps kids, while a couple of others turned over an active funding source to help another corps. What do all these cases have in common? Two things. First, they all found sources of revenue outside of the drum corps activity. Second, and more importantly, they all stopped operating competitive drum corps because the ever-increasing level of expense became too daunting. It's like they say in the political discourse of the day...."it's not a revenue problem, it's a spending problem". Raising money externally doesn't solve the real problem, which is....drum corps costs money. Lots of money. So much money that people propose to run external businesses to raise the money necessary to run drum corps. All this talk about "running drum corps like a business" becomes laughable at times. What business do you know of that willfully operates a program that costs far more money than it ever brings in? So while the creative thinkers postulate new external sources of funding, I'd like to challenge the productive thinkers out there to come up with new ways to generate internal sources of funding....and reductions in cost. Whether it's renting kitchen trailers to FEMA for hurricane season, or making DCI the official sporting event drumline source for the NFL and NBA, or just getting cheaper gasoline....I'd much rather hear ideas that make the "business" model for drum corps (all drum corps, not just the top 7) more practical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 I guess no matter what anyone else says, DanielRay has a better solution right? We are all idiots and know nothing. I have one better....I am an idiot for continuing this post! If DCI needed re-organization just call them or leave your card. Then again, maybe they don't want your help. Take the hint! Can I hug you? :) Part of the reason I dig DCP, to be honest, is that it is unrefined, unfiltered, without specific motivation. That is part of what makes it fun. In the real world, good or bad, no one speaks to me like this... ever. It simply doesn't happen. Could be that I am using DCP as sort of a porthole to some semblance of reality. Keep it up, Chachi. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFZFAN Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Can I hug you? :) Part of the reason I dig DCP, to be honest, is that it is unrefined, unfiltered, without specific motivation. That is part of what makes it fun. In the real world, good or bad, no one speaks to me like this... ever. It simply doesn't happen. Could be that I am using DCP as sort of a porthole to some semblance of reality. Keep it up, Chachi. Please. I'm quite sure any number of us would have no problems telling you how it is to your face. Quite sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 Please. I'm quite sure any number of us would have no problems telling you how it is to your face. Quite sure. I would sincerely welcome that. I'll be in the states in December. Should be in various parts of the states (Seattle, SLC, Chigaco, NYC, Tampa for sure). Would love to catch up with DCP folks for a beer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 "Sound Crazy...Might Work" This notion that DCI is there to return as much tour income as possible to the corps, IMO, is mis-guided. Each corps should stand on its own feet and not be seduced, or made dependent upon, the largese (or success) of DCI. Oh, you mean like open-class? Imagine...Every corps is profitable in its own right (however they best decide to accomplish that). As a result DCI is not required to send back to the corps the roughly 20% of their budget and, instead, can use that money to get drum corps back on TV. More exposure, more fans, more reason to negotiate a better contract with DCI to allow "My Corps" to participate in DCI's tour next year. Too many corps make or break their season on ticket sales when the elasticity of that revenue stream is too dependent upon thngs the corps can't control. Like the weather, the economy, or the whims of another G7. How do you plan, er, imagine convincing the world-class corps to give up their appearance fees and revenue-sharing payments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I'm still trying to figure out your logic here, Jeff. I can't connect your dots... If NewCo can contract venues and TEP's for all three, WGI, BOA, and DCI (and, what the heck, USSBA can join, too!) it's because of their experience in running a national tour. Add up the manpower, hours and assets necessary for each to run their own schedule and it certainly is orders of magnitude greater than what a centralized organization would cost for the same services. The target would be for NewCo to offer the tour duties for cheaper than any of the independent parts can do for themselves. Therefor the cost to contract with with NewCo will actually save each individual entity money, making funds available for other ventures the wish to implement themselves. As it is now, DCI contracts with TEPs to run shows. That shouldn't change precisely because DCI doesn't have the manpower to run the shows themselves. the NewCo format would be no different; they would contract with TEP's to run shows, and possibly charge as much to the TEP for corps to show up. But with NewCo's cheaper infrastructure due to its wider stance with BOA and WGI, NewCo would be able to net a bigger number after expenses. I don't think this has the potential to "kill ticket prices" as you suggest. The smartest of the competitors will certainly not commoditize the activity by competing on price. in any monopoly, prices go up. that means thecost to run shows goes up, which affects show sponsors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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